Wolfhart Pannenberg

  Systematic Theology, Volume I, The Triune God , New York: Oxford University Press, 1997 and Volume II, The Words of God, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.   I find it interesting that Robert Jensen identifies the church as the unique and unitary Church of the creeds. And he stresses that the denominational age has introduced a contradiction in the theological enterprise. Therefore, theology can only be in anticipation of the one church. He is impacted by the secularizing of the gospel I appreciate his reference to Nietzsche’s prophecy neutralism must be the fate of a once but no longer Christian culture. his insight that nihilism might itself only appear as a threat of its appearing is an interesting. It suggests that nihilism is not a sustainable position to hold but a moment that helps gain clarity. He admits that for the near future the threat of nihilism determines the culture religion and theology that the gospel must interpret. He admits that the innovations an...

        I want to explore the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among the benefits of doing so is that we are dealing with authors after the post-apostolic leaders of the church. Thus, we are dealing with authors who, although they acknowledge a tradition of which they want to give faithful exposition, are before the official formulations of the Council of Nicaea in 325. We can see both the consistency of belief between the Alexandrian School and that formulation, but we can also see some of the differences. It was a time before the primacy of Rome was the official position of the church, and thus the less influential leaders of Antioch and Jerusalem, Alexandria and Rome, represented the diversity of the church. One will also see this diversity with writers in Gaul (France), in the early formulation of Latin Christianity in North Africa.   The second century saw the continued growth of the church.  By the end of this century, the number of Christians ...